Twin Talk

March 23, 2016

These two little boys are nearly 27 months old, I wish I could keep up with all the little changes in them, needless to say that they seem quite grown up now. In some ways I think they seem older than Lucas was at this age, having a big brother to follow around and learn from has made them grow up that little bit quicker. They play with toys for older children and are keen to do everything they see big brother doing…and more!

I’m sure that most parents will tell you how different things are with the second child, or in our case, children. There is a little bit of a smug, been there done that attitude when they are throwing their very best tantrum at you. Little do they know that their big brother has tried every trick in the book on that one! Yet at the same time I don’t think we take the time to celebrate all the little things we did with Lucas. Every tiny new milestone reached with him was cause for much excitement and photos, I could tell you the month everything started and that he was an early walker and a slow talker. I was so worried about his speech and he didn’t really start talking properly until closer to three years old yet I can see now that he is just naturally quieter. He doesn’t speak unless it is necessary, even now he isn’t particularly conversational but it’s all there when he needs to tell you something.

It seems that twins are often expected to have a delay but this time round I must admit I wasn’t obsessed with doing everything to encourage language. I was much happier to let it all come naturally, believing more that it will happen when it happens. As twins have each other to communicate with from such a young age it’s thought that they are more likely to stay stuck in their own baby language. Also, they don’t get quite as much individual time and attention. Tamba says that often parents of multiple birth children will talk to one child while looking at the other and I must admit this is something I do a lot. I’ll be getting one ready while telling the other to find their shoes or stop jumping on the sofa. Despite all of this they seem to be doing so well with their speech, I actually think that because our house is busier now they have picked up more language quickly.

We have reached the stage when the speech just explodes and our house is very rarely quiet. I love listening to them chatter away; in a morning they climb into bed together with books and we can hear them talking and laughing. There are times when I’m not sure what they are saying to each other but they also have their own little separate quirks. For Boo, every lion is ‘Lion King’ and every Gruffalo is ‘Gruffalo’s Child’ whereas Bear still says ‘Gruff’ and lets out a frighteningly deep roar for all big cats.

It is weird how they have hit nearly every milestone around the same time. Walking was probably the biggest difference as there was a month or so between that but everything else has been side by side. The way they have started to talk almost complements each other as well. Boo is probably the easier to understand as he points at things and says what they are; he is always asking, ‘Mummy, what’s this?’ whether he knows what it is or not. Bear has been storing it all up to come out with whole sentences disguised as the one word, usually, ‘Where-are-you-Boo?’ or ‘Come-on-Mummy’. Their voices sound totally different to me now as well as their laughter and cries, I can usually tell who it is just from their voice and it is a great way to tell them apart quickly when you can’t see their faces.

The older they get the harder I find it to remember those baby months when we couldn’t tell them apart, the weeks we painted a toe nail on Boo so we knew who was who seem like a lifetime ago. They are totally different to me now; so much more individual each day that passes. Their constant talking has played a big part in that but I absolutely believe that they can communicate with just a look, sometimes a grin from one is enough to set the other off into hysterical laughter. I still find it strange, almost wanting to hold onto that special ‘twin thing’ while trying to treat them just as you would any other siblings. I do think it is special to be a twin, just as it’s special to be a parent to twins but they are little people in their own right, not just one of two and every day they show me that more and more.

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5 Comments

They are beautiful 🙂 Just ahhhh. Mine haven’t had a twin language but they are slightly behind others with their talking. I think they do develop their own ways of communicating. Lovely post Hayley and they are too cute xx

They are just so gorgeous and I can’t believe they are 27 months, it seems like just yesterday you had announced you had them. It’s so cute that they seem to be doing things side by side in terms of milestones. It’s funny you say that having an older brother has made them feel older, for me it is the opposite. LL still feels so much more of a baby to me than Mads ever did at this age! xx

Gosh Hayley — I can’t believe how grown up they are. I remember so clearly when they were born — that really doesn’t seem that long ago but LOOK!! They are little boys now — they don;t look very much smaller than my two!! I love listening to my boys — C is such a chatterbox and his grasp of language is amazing. B has been much slower to use ‘real’ words — even I don’t sometimes understand what he’s saying and will have to ask his twin!! Your boys — all three of them — are SO beautiful. Just like their mama xx

Oh Hayley – just look at them. They are so delicious and I loved reading this despite not having twins. My sister has twin girls that are a similar age and it got me thinking about them. It must be fantastic being a twin and I cannot imagine what it is like looking exactly like someone else! It’s magic! x